The Tree House

It's been almost 2 months since the storm and so I felt like it was finally time to update our blog about what has happened since the Nashville floods.

Here are some pictures of the aftermath of the storm. It's kind of hard to see because there are so many trees behind the house, that there is a BIG one lying across the roof. And, looking at these pictures now, the tree doesn't look that huge but it was SO tall...and it came down with a mighty crash. It sounded like the loudest clap of thunder I'd ever heard, and it shook the whole house.

Luckily the house was solidly built and although the tree tore holes in the roof, the actual framing didn't collapse. The tree fell across the living room and Oliver's room. The ceilings in those rooms collapsed from the weight of the water and the floors were totally warped from all the water, too. The ceiling (what was left of it) had to be ripped out and replaced, several of the interior walls got soaked so the drywall was replaced, the floors had to be sanded down and refinished. These pictures below honestly do not capture what a colossal mess it was.

Another view of the tree across the house 

 

The back of the house where the tree fell.

 

This is a terrible picture so you can't really get a sense of the scale of this, but do you see how it looks like there is vegetation right up behind the house? Well, that wasn't there the day before. The tree that fell was part of or caused a major mudslide. There used to be a retaining wall that held the hillside back about 10 ft' from the house.  Excavators have had to dig out the mess and re-grade the entire area behind the house.    

The living room, hours after the tree fell. By the next day most of the ceiling had collapsed under its own weight.

Oliver's room. 

 

Water damage in our bedroom

Well, the good news is that they are almost finished with repairs and we are all set to move back in at the end of July. I can't wait. I seriously still love this house. Isn't it beautiful! It is so unique and charming. The spaces work for our family much better than in our current rental in Belle Meade. Ryan likes our current place better because of the fierce air conditioning. The treehouse has some rather serious climate control issues, at least in the winter. It was pretty drafty, meaning basically you experience the ambient outdoor weather despite the proof in the electric bill that the AC/heat was on. I don't think it will be that bad because it is rather shaded (well, less shady than it was before). Anyway, we shall soon find out!

 

So, in addition to an update of  the damage and repairs, I want to record some of the ways that our lives were blessed in the days and weeks following the storm.

• we were taken in by friends who treated us like family for the first day when we were all in shock
• those friends were able to provide a WHOLE, FURNISHED-BUT-UNOCCUPIED, DRY, 2-bedroom house for us to stay in for the first week after the storm. (Their brother and sister-in law were out of the country). As grateful as we were, we almost felt guilty about this because all over Nashville there were displaced families camping out in shelters, friends' living rooms or spare bedrooms, and here we had an entire house to ourselves.
• Ryan's parents were here during the storm, and his dad was able to help in really practical ways, packing and moving furniture out of the living room and Oliver's room and packing up our stuff in record time.
• We were able to find a 3 month lease on a very nice furnished place that is still in our "orbit" as far as friends, work, ward boundaries, kids activities, etc.
• guys from church braved the storm: flooded roads, downed power lines, etc to come to our aid immediately after the tree fell.
• 2 days after the storm more guys from church came by with a moving truck and helped us move our furniture, etc. into a storage unit.
• The moving truck that helped us and several other families who were impacted by the storm was actually free.  A family who had just moved to the area from Utah on that Saturday "just happened to" have until Wednesday to return the truck.
• good friends volunteered to take turns watching the boys for us (all day!) for most of the first week as we moved out of the treehouse into the storage unit and our temporary rental.
• despite the damage to the house, we didn't lose ANYTHING, seriously, not one item or possession was damaged beyond simple repair in the storm. This feels really amazing considering that so many people lost EVERYTHING in their homes. It makes me feel grateful but also slightly guilty and sad, too.
• We were amazed by how the entire Nashville community pulled together to help each other. There were groups from every church and synagogue and community center out in full force every day for weeks after the storm doing everything from helping people move to serving lunches to ripping out drywall and carpeting. It was really inspiring that so many people responded to the call to service. It made me feel both proud (to be part of this community) and humbled (would I have served so diligently had we not been mired in our own mess?)